The Negative Side to Beauty Pageants in Children's Lives

17 April 2012
The Negative Side to Beauty Pageants in Children’s LivesTwo hours before the pageant, in a crowded hotel room, a mother and her two daughters are rushing to accomplish all of the last minute tasks. The stressed mother is doing her best to keep the youngest child calm and in her seat while she gets her extensions put in and her hair plastered into the style of the day. The little girl is screaming because her head hurts from her hair being yanked on and she is sick of sitting in the same spot for so long. The older sister is trying to bring the little girl back to a calm state of mind so she can finish caking her face with make-up and fix what has been smeared from the constant tears. Once the hair and make-up is finished, they bring out the outfits that resemble those of a professional belly dancer, and the little one gets dressed for the pageant. After wrestling with the little girl to get her dressed, the time-crunched mother runs through the lines and moves over and over again with her daughter, making sure she has them imprinted in her brain. The last part of the costume is put on as they are getting ready to leave, and the little girl cries as the tight dentures are forced into her mouth. The small child wipes her tears, smiles, and says “I want that crown!” as she walks out the door. Putting a child through any type of beauty pageant so young can be detrimental to their self-image and overall extremely harmful. That type of competition can seriously damage a child's mind. Shows like "Toddlers & Tiaras" not only teach little girls that beauty is everything, but most of the time it is just the mother living their dream through their child. Sometimes it's not even the child's choice; they are forced to compete in pageants. Some of the outfits that the girls wear are so revealing and "sexy" that the parents should be ashamed to allow their child to go on stage. So many children today are put in pageants and made to think life is about...